Winter naturally does some good work taking care of our plants without our help. The steady drop in temperature helps our plants go dormant and any lasting snowfall insulates plants against freezing temperatures & icy winds. However, there are a few simple winter-prep tasks that we can do for our shrubs & evergreens to show them a little love & help protect them from damage & stress!
Simple task #1: Deadhead LARGE spent blooms
While dried flowers can add some texture & appeal to your winter landscape, it might not be a bad idea to trim up some of your shrubs that are heavily exposed to the harsh winter conditions. A large spent flower, such as a panicle hydrangea bloom, can easily be caught in a strong wind or weighed down by heavy snow, causing the branch to snap. Depending on the location of your shrub, some pro-active pruning might do your plant some good! Take a walk through your yard & look at your shrubs that are the most exposed to the elements, & take a minute to snip off those big blooms, cutting just above a set of leaves. Hydrangea bushes & rose bushes with large single blooms or even a full spray of roses on a stem are the most easily weighed down, & it doesn’t hurt your plant one bit to snip them off!!
Simple task #2: Check mulch levels
If you’ve done that lovely activity of laying down fresh mulch before winter, go back and double check around the base of each shrub and evergreen. While mulching does help protect your plants through the winter, we wanna make sure that you’re doing it the correct way! You’re going to want a nice level layer of mulch around your plants. Brush back any mulch that is touching lower branches. Mulch that’s mounded around a shrub, tree or evergreen can cause problems such as:
- soggy soil, bottom branch rot & root rot
- pests nesting in the mulch mound & snacking on the delicate outer layers of branches
- fungus growth in the root ball & on lower foliage
Simple task #3: Water your young evergreens & new plantings
Lack of water is the #1 cause of winter burn!! What is winter burn? Essentially, winter burn occurs when the cold, harsh winter winds have sucked all the moisture out of a plant’s roots up through it’s foliage. A plant’s foliage transpires moisture straight from the plant’s root ball, so if the plant didn’t have any moisture in it’s roots when it froze, there’s no moisture left to transpire. Since the plant is dormant, the moisture cannot be replenished, which leads to serious dryness & winter burn. The damage from winter burn can be minor such as dry, brown needle tips & leaf edges…or worst case scenario, entire branches can turn brown & die. Some plants can even die entirely. To help avoid this, water your plants deeply before the ground freezes, usually mid-November, to give them enough moisture to last through the winter!
These three quick & easy tasks can make a world of difference to your plants!! Love them well!
